Races of Isaldor - The Editrude
Average Height: 380 feet at 100 years. Editrude trees at a height of 500 feet are not uncommon, and heights of 1000 feet have been recorded. Average Weight: Measuring a 500 foot tree is a task that is inconceivable for a mere mortal. Their base can grow wider than 30 feet, and branches grow almost haphazardly. Common Leaf Colors: Blue, Green, and many shades in between them. Common Wood Colors: Brown, with blue streaks and patterns Seemingly older than time itself, Editrude are trees that can grow to sizes larger than life. Their leaves resemble that of a common oak with branches that sprout in a manner similar to that of a willow tree. The color of these leaves depends on where they are on the planet. The closer to the equator an Editrude tree is, the more green its leaves will be and the closer to the poles the tree is, the more blue its leaves will be (during the summer and spring months at least. It does lose its leaves in the winter). An Editrude tree’s trunk is quite unusual. Very young ones are completely brown but as it gets older and larger, blue patterns appear on the trunk, almost glowing. They aren’t random, and take the shape of fissures and earthquakes. Some people believe that they coincide with actual earthquakes that have actually occurred as if the tree had caused them itself (and I’ll get to that momentarily), but there is no evidence of such a direct connection. That being said, an Editrude’s roots go extraordinarily deep. verids are the only race who have managed to dig deep enough to be beyond the roots, miles into the world. If one of these trees were to be uprooted it is safe to say that there would be a lot of seismic activity. It is very clear that Editrude are sapient, although it may not appear so at first. They are like most trees in that they cannot speak or move around. Even their branches seem to be controlled by the wind. Though from what I hear Editrude communicate with each other and other plants by subtly changing the wind, controlling how their branches bend and sway in the wind. The Editrude exhibit higher mental functioning through an organ called a chlorocortex, hidden deep within the tree. Unfortunately the only way to communicate with an Editrude tree is by eating its fruit. Editrude grow a very strange type of fruit. This fruit seems to carry a special kind of hallucinogen that the Editrude can control entirely. It has shown people memories, stories, adventures, the lives of others, and euphoric highs. Its texture is very pear-like though, with skin like that of a peach. As such the Editrude fruit has no taste of its own, just whatever the tree desires. That is until 72 hours after it has been picked, and it loses all of its hallucinogenic properties. After that it tastes awfully bitter. People often eat these fruits to gain some wisdom from an Editrude because they live for a very long time. An Editrude cannot die from aging. It just gets bigger and bigger. The only way an Editrude can ever be killed is to be cut down, or in some way destroy the chlorocortex. If everything an Editrude says is truthful (which is not always the case) some of them have lived for hundreds of thousands of years. Origin and Editrudism Editrudes are the oldest sapient species in the world. As a species Editrude have definitely lived millions of years. Their point of origin is Sodyr, which has been tactfully named as “The Forest of the Ancients.” Most commoners aren’t allowed to go there because it is a very sacred place. That’s because some people treat Editrudes as gods. The religion is called Editrudism. Editrudists believe that every sapient species that exists today is because they were granted that wisdom by the Editrude fruit. Building into that effect is that non-sapient animals will not eat an active Editrude fruit. Not if they’ve been starved. And not if they’ve been tortured. Editrudists believe that the Editrude trees watch all of nature, waiting to see which animals are moving beyond their feral roots and are “ready to move on” as it were. The interesting part is the future in an Editrudist’s vision. Most of them believe that as the sapient races proved they were higher than the animals in some way, shape, or form, that if a race proves that it’s higher than sapience it can move on even further and be a part of another evolution as it were. There are three main interpretations of this philosophy: the Nil, the Peacemakers, and the Conquerors. The Nil believe that our evolution exists by moving upon “human need” - things like succumbing to desire. The Peacemakers believe that the main trait of sapience is causing harm to one another and we must move beyond that. The Conquerors believe that sapience is granted to the “top of the food chain” and the next evolution will be granted to the race that can do it again. A smaller fourth subset of Editrudism exists, where sapience is the top and there’s no way beyond it. They are called the Stations, Each of these philosophies has taken hold in many places of the world. Like tide and rip-tide they ebb and flow. They come back and go away to various levels in various places. Right now many Krethyians seem to be going the route of the Conquerors and there’s a movement coming out of the Atasy Islands. No Editrude has confirmed or denied any of this. They don’t have much power to do so, or to go against it. Their fruit has one major weakness: they can only talk to one non-Editrude at a time. Many people have claimed their version of Editrudism true after eating the fruit when they were completely lying. And if there’s one way to annoy an Editrude, it’s lying about them. An Editrude does not have to charge everyone of its fruits with hallucinations and it will exclude people that it does not like. Editrude “Culture” It’s very hard to describe an Editrude’s “culture” for various reasons. They sort of create culture. They don’t partake in it. By being a tree, they would have difficulty in doing so. Another thing is that Editrude trees grow up in seclusion. As a sapling, they are too small to hear the changing winds caused by older Editrude trees. That’s provided they are even planted in the same forest. It’s not unheard of for an Editrude tree to ask someone of another race to plant their fruit in some remote location around the world. Each Editrude grows its own entirely unique personality, and you’re bound to get a different experience depending on which one you’re communicating with. Some of them are very shy and don’t talk to anyone. Some of them talk all of the time, and some of them really seem to enjoy the being worshipped aspect of being an Editrude. The only thing I can contribute to this segment is what individual Editrude have said. When asked if being stuck to one spot for all eternity was a torturous experience, the Editrude didn’t seem to understand why that would be horrifying or painful. Bound by time, not distance seemed to frighten the Editrude more. In their lives they see new families begin and flourish, peasant farms build to great cities, countries founded and collapsed, and know that the world is always changing. The lifespan of any other race, especially the drewa (8 years) sounded nightmarish. Editrudes obviously have a skewed perspective of time, and as such that makes communicating with them even more difficult. Asking a specific question from an older Editrude could take a year for them to grant that a person. Younger Editrude don’t seem to have that problem, but you’re less likely to actually have your question answered by them. Asking any given Editrude about the tenants of any branch of Editrudism is going to get you a vastly different response. It’s rumored that the original Editrude tree is living in the Forest of the Ancients. The one that would be hundreds of millions of years old. And they say that his roots go down so deep that they hold the planet on which we stand together. Figuring out if that’s true or not is quite difficult though. For one, the forest has more than just Editrude living in there. And if these beliefs are true, and the Editrude can make species sapient it’s likely that this Master Tree has some kind of guardians. The Forest of the Ancient stretches on for hundreds of miles, protected by deadly animals and sycophants. What goes on in there, only the mightiest of warriors or those requested by the Editrude will ever know. Category:Miscellaneous